Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from MA who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they're not in a marathon they are in a triathlon - that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

It's a remarkable record of exertion - all the more so when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk.

For the past 25 years or more Dick, who is 65, has pushed and pulled his son across the country and over hundreds of finish lines. When Dick runs, Rick is in a wheelchair that Dick is pushing. When Dick cycles, Rick is in the seat-pod from his wheelchair, attached to the front of the bike. When Dick swims, Rick is in a small but heavy, firmly stabilized boat being pulled by Dick.

At Rick's birth in 1962 the umbilical cord coiled around his neck and cut off oxygen to his brain. Dick and his wife, Judy, were told that there would be no hope for their child's development.

"It's been a story of exclusion ever since he was born," Dick told me....

Continue reading Team Hoyt's inspiring story at multi'merica.com.

And here's Team Hoyt in action:

[HT: friend Bruce T.; photo courtesy of Team Hoyt]

The Associated Press headline reads, "War Reporter now fighting baby drama." There was certainly the skulky and narcissistic way out of her "unplanned" pregnancy, which would have spared public humiliation and career concerns, but CBS News reporter Lara Logan chose the heroic option:

Lara Logan, the chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News, tells The Washington Post she is pregnant, and the father is a married federal contractor whom she met while stationed in Iraq.

Logan's relationship with Joseph Burkett - who's in the midst of a divorce from wife Kimberly, with whom he has a 3-year-old daughter - has made media headlines, including the front page of the New York Post.

Logan is going through a divorce from estranged husband Jason Siemon, a Chicago-based energy lobbyist whom she married in 1998.

"Nobody likes to read about themselves like that, especially the way it's been sensationalized," [said] Logan, 37.... "I hated it. But I'm just going to rise above it and keep going."...

Logan, whose pregnancy was unplanned, told the newspaper her due date is in January, and she's "looking forward to being a mom."...

The reporter - known for her intrepid war coverage - was promoted to CBS' chief foreign affairs correspondent last month....

Logan, a contributor to 60 Minutes, has won numerous reporting accolades, including an Emmy and Overseas Press Club Award.

[Photo of Logan at the American Women in Radio & Television's Gracie Allen Awards in May is courtesy of Getty]

I always look forward to reading what Hollywood stars, being way more inventive than me or most I know, will name their children. Some are real misses, like the names Julia Roberts picked for her twins: Hazel and Phinneas. But some are real hits.

Here's one, as reported by Us magazine, July 7:

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban chose a "really adorable and original" baby name for newborn daughter Sunday Rose, baby name expert Pam Satran, coauthor of Cool Names and The Baby Name Bible, tells Usmagazine.com.

"Sunday [is] a choice to rival Tom and Katie's Suri and Brad and Angelina's Shiloh," Satran says.

Kidman, 41, gave birth to Sunday - who weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces - on Monday morning. It is the first child for the actress and Urban, 40. (Kidman has two adopted children - Connor, 13, and Isabella, 15 - with ex Tom Cruise.)...

"Sunday is one of the next generation of word names," explains Satran. "But it also harkens back to the ancient tradition of day-naming as practiced by many African tribes and originally brought to America by the early slaves."

Other famous day names? Actress Tuesday Weld, the character Wednesday Addams and Robinson Crusoe's Friday.

"Some modern parents like Sunday because of its spiritual element, which connects to such other starbaby names as Angelina and Brad's son Pax and pop names like Nevaeh," Satran adds.

Sunday emulates Suri because both "unusual first names begin with Su and have two syllables," says Satran.

The name also represents Whitsundays, an island chain off the coast of Queensland, Australia - where Kidman and Urban celebrated her 40th birthday - and it is a day of prayer in Kidman's Catholic religion.

Satran says Rose is the "starbaby middle name of the decade."

The daughters of Michelle Pfeiffer, Teri Hatcher, Ewan McGregor and Eric Clapton all have Rose as their middle name. Sylvester Stallone... has 3 daughters with the middle name Rose.

The couple's decision to give Sunday Rose both of their last names "is a signal that this is a marriage of equals," Satran says.

[HT: proofreaders Laura Loo and Angela; Urban/Kidman photo courtesy of Huffington Post; Stallone family photo courtesy of celebrity-babies.com]

According to ABC News yesterday:

Thomas Beatie, the transgender man who made headlines as the so-called "pregnant man," gave birth Sunday to a healthy baby girl....

The birth, at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, OR, was natural, according to a source, who added that reports that Beatie had had a Caesarean section are false.

"She's really cute, really pretty,'' the source [said]....

The source said Beatie was resting and the family was focusing its attention on the new baby....

Born a woman, Beatie, 34, who had had his breasts surgically removed and legally changed his gender from female to male, leaped to prominence around the world in April when the wispy bearded man revealed he was pregnant.

Despite years of taking hormones and living outwardly as a man, Beatie maintained that he retained his female sex organs because he intended one day to get pregnant.

"I actually opted not to do anything to my reproductive organs because I wanted to have a child one day. I see pregnancy as a process, and it doesn't define who I am," Beatie told Oprah Winfrey in April.

"I feel it's not a male or female desire to have a child. It's a human need. I'm a person and I have the right to have a biological child," he said.

Beatie was caught on tape leaving the hospital. He was not carrying the infant.

A woman who appears to be a nurse carried a combination car seat-baby carrier with a white blanket over it. Beatie walked a few yards behind her. The new dad walked easily, although he appeared tired, and despite the warm weather he wore a white hooded sweatshirt along with sunglasses and black shorts. Someone opened the car door for him. [Click for link to video.]

Beatie was impregnated with sperm from a donor. His wife, Nancy, inseminated him at home with a device she said was like a syringe without the needle. They bought it from a veterinarian and it is typically used to feed birds.

[HT: proofreader Angela; photo of Beatie "carr[ying] out the time-honored American passion of maintaining a pristine lawn May 18," courtesy of ABC News]

Read previous Stanek blog posts on Beatie here and here.

The inexplicably pro-abortion National Education Association is holding its national conference in DC this week as our state affiliates across the country.

(Who can forget infamous late-term abortionist George Tiller being invited to speak at a conference at NEA headquarters in March, which Students for Life caught on videotape?)

Yesterday pro-lifers held protests not only at the DC annual meeting site but at NEA meetings across the country. The goal, according to a statement by Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, an organization of young people born after abortion was legalized on January 22, 1973: "to persuade the NEA... leadership to repeal its abortion-related resolutions and policies and to become neutral on abortion."

Added Gingi Edmonds, Survivors spokesperson...

Teachers devoted to serving children should never sanction the killing of innocent babies and future students. An association that lessens the value of the human lives they are striving to serve is a tragedy and should not be supported. This picket is an opportunity for men and women dedicated to protecting children to take action. The time and money being spent on promoting abortion and pro-abortion candidates by the CA Teachers Association and NEA is hypocritical and destructive, and it is time to stop.

The DC protest included the Family Research Council and "nearly a dozen other groups," according to an FRC statement, along with NEA members and delegates. Also in attendance were Nellie Gray of March for Life, Jim Sedlak of the American Life League, and Peter Shinn of Pro-Life Unity. See videos of speakers here.

Our own proofreader Angela participated in the protest of the Milwaukee Education Association meeting in WI, sponsored by Missionaries to the Preborn.

Sex researcher Alfred Kinsey is credited with "revolutionizing" American sexual thought and practices in the 1950s and 60s, including normalization of homosexuality, porn, pedophilia, and abortion.

In reality, Kinsey was a pedophiliac homosexual sado-mashocist who likely died of self-inflicted wounds at age 62. His "ground-breaking" books, The Kinsey Reports contained data obtained from pedophiliacs, which he did not report.

Dr. Judith Reisman has been at the forefront of exposing Kinsey for years. Yesterday she released a 2-part YouTube video, The Kinsey Coverup.

[HT: Dr. Frank; photo courtesy of JAMD]

I was just clicking through the top 25 ad icons of all time and was most interested in #18, the Gerber baby.

I had always heard she was Brooke Shields.

A Google search confirmed I didn't invent that, as a snip from BecomeABabyModel.com reads:

But she wasn't. Here's more...

I wrote earlier this month actress Scarlett Johansson told the London Telegraph "she has regular email contact with presidential hopeful Barack Obama in which she offers advice and consoles him after difficult debates." Continued the Telegraph:

The Hollywood starlet said she had been communicating with the Democratic candidate for months and was "amazed" that he always found the time to reply....

"You'd imagine that someone like the senator who is constantly travelling and constantly 'on' - how can he return these personal emails?" she told the Politico website.

"But he does...."

She described how after a particularly tough debate earlier this year, she sent an email congratulating him for "holding his ground".

He responded that the questioning was "difficult" and he was being pounded on "one silly question after another."

I said at the time young Scarlett had received her last email from Obama, who if what she said was true, had engaged in a politically risky tête-à-tête.

Now, according to Us magazine, Obama is denying all but 1 email...

Barack Obama has downplayed his "email relationship" with Scarlett Johansson - and says the actress doesn't even have his personal address.

Earlier this month, Johansson claimed to have a "personal dialogue" with Obama....

But Obama told reporters Tuesday that "she sent one email to [my assistant] Reggie [Love], who forwarded it to me.

"I [wrote] saying, 'Thank you Scarlett for doing what you do,' and suddenly we have this email relationship," he explained.

So either Scarlett has publicly engaged in school girl fantasy, or Barack has engaged in a Clinton-lite denial.

All Scarlett has to do to clear her good name is produce the emails, if she's telling the truth. That would be interesting.

[HT: proofreader Laura Loo; photo courtesy of Us]

In "Diablo Cody got me pregnant," Manhattan Monarch wrote today:

The conclusion is unanimous: the supposed pregnancy pact fulfilled by over a half-dozen teenagers in Gloucester, MA is a result of their enjoying the Cody-penned teen pregnancy comedy, Juno. It's funny to hear the same folks that praised Jason Reitman's indie hit for its implicit pro-life message now bashing it just as fervently as a brainwasher of innocent children's minds....

This brings me to the real topic of this post, the top five reasons Diablo Cody didn't get your child pregnant:

1. Juno in no ways "glamorizes pregnancy." While the protagonist herself is hip beyond imagination (she has a hamburger phone!), it's clear that she goes through an extremely emotional ordeal in choosing to go through with her pregnancy. There are no glamorous shots of her holding her child, no instances where she seems happy about the fact that she is pregnant itself, and certainly no high-fives from friends who made a pact that they'd get pregnant together so that they could buy matching strollers in school colors.

2. Juno doesn't keep or even interact with her baby. The adult woman with a home and a secure job is shown as the ideal parent in the end.

3. Even adult parenthood isn't glamorized. The relationship between Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman is torn apart because, even with all of their financial resources, they weren't ready to handle raising a child together.

4. The pregnancy in the film is unplanned. Michael Cera wasn't looking for an heir....

I agree with MM on her 4 points listed, but hold everything. It isn't the Right connecting the Gloucester girls to Juno. That attempt was first made by "some adults" in the original Time article, or by Time itself trying to promote the concept, since it didn't name names.

Poignant point from Cinematical:

Completely baffled, officials turned to the only feasible explanation: Blame... Juno... Of course! The ridiculous rise in pregnancies had to do with Juno - a film that made teen pregnancy look about as comfortable and enjoyable as stuffing yourself in a piece of old luggage and rolling down a mountain. There's the answer!...

Instead of looking around at a town that was falling apart economically and emotionally, they blamed the quirky comedy because kids liked it. Here's an idea: Next time, how about you look at what kids don't like. They don't like to feel neglected, like they're worthless or not important. They like to feel needed, they like to feel wanted and they like to feel loved.

Newbusters nailed the real culprits promoting the "Juno effect": "Liberals [who] can't seem to allow an alternative point of view to emerge on abortion":

Time is attempting to blame movies that didn't tout abortion. On its home page for this week's magazine, Time's blurb reads: "Postcard Gloucester: A MA fishing town tries to understand why so many of its teenagers made a pact to get pregnant. How one school is grappling with the Juno effect"....

Kathleen Kingsbury... begins by dragging in Juno and Knocked Up as a scapegoat for an anonymous gang of "some" in the town....

Time should know "some" people saw these movies and didn't see "glamorized" pregnancies, simply young women choosing to keep a baby.

Liberals can't seem to allow an alternative point of view to emerge on abortion. Neither of these movies did any lobbying, suggesting that politicians should pass laws to protect the unborn. They simply showed likable women choosing to carry their babies to term. Liberals say they're "pro-choice," but they can't stand watching another choice made in a movie.

The abortion industry has always hated Juno and are now doing their best to damage it while taking the spotlight off themselves and their idiotic worldview that led the Gloucester girls down their pregnant path in the first place.

Access Hollywood reported yesterday:

Jason Bateman has come to the defense of the Oscar-nominated film, Juno, claiming the movie should not bare blame for the flood of teen pregnancies in Gloucester, MA....

As the media quickly honed in on the story, it was branded "the Juno effect" and commentators openly discussed whether the film... along with the teen pregnancy of Jamie Lynn Spears, who at 17, became a mother last week, affected the Gloucester girls....

"I don't know the specifics, but I can speak about what sort of responsibility entertainment should hold for social behavior," Bateman, who starred as one half of adoptive couple the Lorings in Juno, told Access Hollywood. "... Look, if you're going to blame a movie or song for your actions, whether they be good or bad, I think you're looking at the wrong things to influence your life."...

Bateman said the film, which saw [Ellen] Page's Juno MacGuff carry her unplanned pregnancy to term before allowing her child to be adopted by Jennifer Garner's Vanessa Loring, should be allowed to remain a work of entertainment.

"What we're doing is providing entertainment in different flavors for your consumption," Bateman said. "I think people should look to other areas of their life for lessons and guidance, mainly parents, or teachers, or friends, or whomever...."

Juno was about a teenager who was heroic on 2 counts. She rejected abortion in the wake of a crisis pregnancy and decided the best decision for all was to place her baby for adoption.

A true "Juno effect" would see a lowered rate of abortion alongside a spike in adoption placements.

A partial "Juno effect" would see a lowered rate of abortion among teens in crisis pregnancies.

To say the "Juno effect" is for girls to purposefully get pregnant so as to raise babies together is a wild stretch.

Gloucester High School administrators say they're seeing 4x the normal number of teen pregnancies. Perhaps that's exactly right: They're only now seeing what has always been. Perhaps the number of girls getting pregnant is the same as ever, but these kids are responding noblely - like Juno - instead of slinking off to the abortion mill.

[HT: proofreader Laura Loo; photo courtesy of Us magazine]

What a tragic story. Clearly this poor mother's captors are deranged. This is about more than an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. From the Associated Press, June 14:

An Italian woman whose family kept her locked in a room for almost two decades after she was accused of becoming pregnant out of wedlock has been freed by police, authorities and media reports said.

Police said they found the 47-year-old woman Friday in a filthy room in the family's home near Naples.

The woman was being hospitalized Saturday in the psychiatric ward of a Naples hospital....

Authorities arrested the woman's brother, a farmhand, and sister, who worked in a nursery school, and put her 80-year-old mother under house arrest. The three were being investigated on suspicion of mistreatment and kidnapping....

[P]olice said in a statement that the woman had been locked up in the room since 1990 because of an unwanted pregnancy and that she was kept in "indescribable" conditions.

Italian TV showed the room with a bed with soiled sheets and a dirty toilet and sink, as well as plastic bottles of water and tin bowls.

Police said the woman's son, now 17, was living with relatives in town and didn't know about his mother.

An anonymous tip led police to the house along a country road on the outskirts of [a] rural town.... [T]he tip came from a neighbor who complained of the stench rising from the room where the woman was held.

Police were trying to find the man with whom she had conceived the child in the hope that he could help clarify whether her psychiatric problems predated her forced segregation in the home or were caused by it....

[HT: proofreader Laura Loo; photos courtesy of inplacenews]

As a wife to a fisherman and mother of two sons, I found this one pretty funny. Click to enlarge:

Happy Father's Day!

I have a feeling loose-lipped Scarlett has received her last email from Barack.

From the London Telegraph, June 11:

The actress Scarlett Johansson has revealed that she has regular email contact with presidential hopeful Barack Obama in which she offers advice and consoles him after difficult debates.

The Hollywood starlet said she had been communicating with the Democratic candidate for months and was "amazed" that he always found the time to reply.

"You'd imagine that someone like the senator who is constantly travelling and constantly 'on' - how can he return these personal emails?" she told the Politico website....

She described how after a particularly tough debate earlier this year, she sent an email congratulating him for "holding his ground".

He responded that the questioning was "difficult" and he was being pounded on "one silly question after another."

I remember those silly questions! They came during the April 16, 2008 Democrat debate between Obama and Clinton. I'll post those quacky queries below, after this post. Moving on...

The blonde 23-year-old star... has made no secret of her deep admiration for the Democratic candidate.

In January she told reporters: "I am engaged to Barack Obama - My heart belongs to Barack."...

She gave him her public support with an appearance in a campaign music video that got ten million views in its first week online.

In the recent interview, she claimed that the first black presidential candidate is a fan of her work too and his favourite performance was her role in the Oscar winning Lost In Translation....

Johansson revealed that in-between acting jobs she was preparing to dedicate her time to campaigning for Mr Obama....

"What I want to do is raise awareness of Obama and his policies, and share my own story of how I became involved in his campaign. Perhaps, if they're a fan, my story might entice them to learn or spark their interest some other way.

"If I can answer questions or direct people to a website where they can get more information, that's how I can help."

Scarlett can raise awareness of Obama's policies? She'll be the first. Perhaps in her next email she can tell him, since he can't seem to get beyond "yes, we can!", what they are.

I take that back. Obama has established one policy: to be the most pro-abortion president in history. CNSNews.com reminded us today:

Following a July 17, 2007 speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Obama was asked what he would do at the federal level, not only to ensure access to abortion but to make sure that the judicial nominees he might pick "are true to the core tenets of Roe v. Wade?"

"Well, the first thing I'd do as president is, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act," Obama said. "That's the first thing I'd do."

FOCA is wildly radical legislation that would overturn every single federal, state, and local pro-life law.

Raise that awareness, Scarlett.

I expect the emails between Johansson and Obama remained above-board. But I do think the continued exchange a tad creepy, particularly since Johansson obviously has a crush on Obama. Was Obama leading her on, feeding his male ego, or just being polite? Poor judgment, nonetheless. And his behavior certainly wasn't presidential, unless, of course, he was trying to emulate President Clinton.

[HT: proofreader Laura Loo; photo of Johansson courtesy of People magazine]

Read transcript of the April 16, 2008, Democrat debate between Clinton and Obama here. Meanwhile, here are some of the "silly questions" reporters Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos asked Obama:

GIBSON: ... Senator Obama.... Talking to a closed-door fund-raiser in San Francisco 10 days ago, you got talking in California about small town Pennsylvanians who have had tough economic times in recent years. And you said they get bitter and they cling to guns or they cling to their religion or they cling to antipathy toward people who are not like them. You said you misspoke. You said you mangled what it was you wanted to say. But we've talked to a lot of voters. Do you understand that some people in this state find that patronizing and think that you said actually what you meant?

GIBSON: Senator Obama, since you last debated, you made a significant speech in this building on the subject of race and your former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. And you said subsequent to giving that speech that you never heard him say from the pulpit the kinds of things that so have offended people.

But more than a year ago, you rescinded the invitation to him to attend the event when you announced your candidacy. He was to give the invocation. And according to the reverend, I'm quoting him, you said to him: "You can get kind of rough in sermons. So, what we've decided is that it's best for you not to be out there in public." I'm quoting the reverend.

But what did you know about his statements that caused you to rescind that invitation? And if you knew he got rough in sermons, why did it take you more than a year to publicly disassociate yourself from his remarks?

GIBSON: And, Senator Obama, I want to do one more question, which goes to the basic issue of electability. And it is a question raised by a voter in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a woman by the name of Nash McCabe. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NASH MCCABE, VOTER: Senator Obama, I have a question, and I want to know if you believe in the American flag. I am not questioning your patriotism, but all our servicemen, policemen and EMS wear the flag. I want to know why you don't.

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... [A] follow-up on this issue, general theme of patriotism, in your relationships. A gentleman named William Ayers. He was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol, and other buildings. He's never apologized for that.

And, in fact, on 9/11, he was quoted in the New York Times saying, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." An early organizing meeting for your State Senate campaign was held at his house and your campaign has said you are "friendly."

Can you explain that relationship for the voters and explain to Democrats why it won't be a problem?

Read my previous posts on this tragedy here and here. According to the Associated Press, today:

Chinese police on Wednesday blocked access to several schools that collapsed in last month's massive earthquake, a day after a group of parents protested that their children had died because of shoddy construction of the schools....

Students' deaths have become the focus for Chinese, both inside and outside the disaster area, fueling accusations about corruption in school construction. Angry parents and even rescuers have pointed to steel rods in broken concrete slabs that were thinner than a ball point pen....

On Tuesday, Beijing began giving compensation to some families whose children died in the quake - about $144 a year to each parent who lost an only child.

Meanwhile actress Sharon Stone told the New York Times last week, "Clearly, I sound like an idiot," about saying she thought the Chinese earthquake was "karma" for mistreating the Dalai Lama and Tibetans.

But saying one sounds like an idiot is different than confessing to idiocy.

Stone is under contract with Dior, which issued an apology for Stone she told the NYT she didn't make:

"I talked to Sidney [Toledano, Dior CEO] and I said: 'Let's get serious here. You guys know me very well. I'm not going to apologize. I'm certainly not going to apologize for something that isn't real and true - not for face creams.'"

And while she wasn't planning to attend, Stone is not welcome at this year's Shanghai Film Festival, which she attended last year to promote Dior's anti-aging creams, according to BreitBart.com.

[HT for Stone update: proofreader Laura Loo; photo of police trying to stop grieving parental protest courtesy of the NYT]

Clever title AOL gave this news story.

Most of singer Madonna's music and performances disturb me, which is I'm sure part of her plan. But there are a couple things I admire about Madonna, her personal discipline and her willingness to adopt an African baby as well as fund African orphanages and make a documentary spotlighting the plight of poor African children.

Some say the adoption was a publicity stunt. If so, it was a life-altering one. From the Associated Press, May 28...

Lilongwe, Malawi - A judge on Wednesday approved Madonna's adoption of a Malawian boy she met in an orphanage in 2006.

The 49-year-old pop star wasn't in court for the ruling, which took Justice Andrew Nyirenda an hour to read. Nyirenda said he was satisfied that Madonna and her British filmmaker husband, Guy Ritchie, "are perfect parents" for David, who will be 3 in November....

Madonna and Ritchie have been caring for David in London.

"It's now official, David is Madonna's baby," the singer's Malawian lawyer, Alan Chinula, told reporters.

David's mother died when he was a month old. His father, Yohane Banda, has said he believed he could not care for him alone, and that placing him in an orphanage was the best way to ensure David's survival. The father has said he didn't object to the adoption.

Yohane Banda said Wednesday he was glad the adoption was successful.

"I am glad it's all over," said the 33-year-old farmer, who ekes out a living growing tomatoes, maize and onions. "I am glad David has a new, good home."

Critics had accused Madonna of using her celebrity status to circumvent Malawian adoption laws - allegations she denies.

Malawian law is fuzzy on foreign adoptions. Regulations stipulate only that prospective parents undergo an 18- to 24-month assessment period in Malawi, a rule that was bent when Madonna was allowed to take David to London.

Speaking to reporters last week at the Cannes Film Festival, Madonna said the criticism hurt.

"It was a big struggle, and I didn't understand it," she said, comparing the process to the pain of childbirth. "But in the end I rationalized that, when a woman has a child and goes through natural childbirth, she (also) suffers an enormous amount."

Madonna and Ritchie also have a son, Rocco, 7, and Madonna has a daughter, Lourdes, 11.

Madonna met David while establishing charity projects in Malawi. She is funding her own and six other orphanages in the country.

Her Raising Malawi organization also announced that the singer is funding a multimillion-dollar academy for disadvantaged children in Malawi.

I Am Because We Are, a new documentary that Madonna produced and narrated, shows poverty and disease devastating the lives of Malawi's children, and urges people to volunteer.

When I think of dead stars Heath Ledger and Kurt Cobain, I think how comforted their families must be to have a piece of them left here on earth in their daughters, conceived in imperfect circumstances.

And a convenient abortion was recommended for at least 1 of them, according to the New York Post, May 28:

Frances Bean Cobain - the 15-year-old daughter of rockers Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain - would have been aborted in the womb if Love's handlers had had their way, an upcoming book claims....

In Bumping Into Geniuses, a memoir about the music business, Danny Goldberg, former CEO of Warner Bros. Records who also managed Kurt's band Nirvana, reveals how he and a group of Love's inner circle - worried about her heroin use during pregnancy - plotted an intervention.

During a meeting with a doctor at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's chemical dependency program, the doctor "tried to give clinical advice, suggesting to Courtney that it was not a great idea to have a baby while dealing with addiction," writes Goldberg. That didn't sit well with Love, who exploded.

"You're not telling me to have a [bleep]-ing abortion, are you?" asked Courtney, her voice rising with her trademark hostile whine. "I mean I'm pro-choice, but that doesn't mean that anyone has the right to tell me to have a [bleep]ing abortion."

[He] suggested that it might not be safe for the baby, and Courtney, who was only 6 weeks pregnant, went into a confrontational mode. "Is that a medical fact, or is that just your opinion? I want to see it in a medical book." She was interested in medical facts, not a sermon. [He] sheepishly acknowledged that at this early stage of pregnancy a woman could discontinue heroin use with no physical or psychological damage to the fetus. Courtney looked triumphant as she towered over the doctor seated at his desk.

Courtney did stop using heroin, and Frances Bean was born in perfect health on Aug. 18, 1992. Love had no comment on the book. In an interview last year, Frances Bean said: "People are fascinated by me, but I haven't done anything . . . I'm not my parents."

Another mom, like Nicole Richie, whose maternal instincts gave her strength to battle off personal demons.

[HT: proofreader Angela and LifeSiteNews.com; photo of mom and daughter courtesy of Reuters; photo of family in 1993 courtesy of People]

We tracked the latter end of Nicole Richie's pregnancy (here and here) because she and boyfriend Joel Madden established a foundation to help pregnant and new moms in need and because Richie attributed motherhood with turning her life around.

This month Richie graces the cover of Harper's Bazaar with more sweet thoughts and photos of daughter Harlow in a feature article.

The website Shine wraps up the piece:

If you've ever wanted to see how dramatically motherhood could change a woman's life, look no further than Nicole Richie. She's on the cover of the current issue of Harper's Bazaar and says of her daughter, Harlow, "I owe the baby my life."...

After stints in rehab, serving time for a DUI (okay, all of 82 minutes) and dealing with an eating disorder, the one-time reality star has definitely changed her ways. Long gone are her partying days with Paris Hilton and jailbird-inspired fashion spreads.

Nicole's embracing motherhood like nobody's business.

Now living with boyfriend and baby daddy Joel Madden, the frontman for the band Good Charlotte, the two seem near picture perfect in the beautifully shot photos for Harper's Bazaar.

In the accompanying article, she dishes on how being a mom has impacted her style, her new, post-baby body and her man. She also mentions that we shouldn't rule out a duet between Joel and her dad, Lionel Richie (I'm pulling for a punk-inspired remake of Brick House.).

Check out these gorgeous photos of Nicole, Joel, baby Harlow and grandpa Lionel.

I've posted those photos below.

I do wish these 2 would get married already.

[HT: reader Carder]

I posted a YouTube video this week of actress Sharon Stone blaming karma for the devastating Chinese earthquake.

The Chinese, communists that they are, are taking a more heavy-handed approach than Americans when dealing with Hollywood liberals, banning Stone's movies altogether rather than boycotting them. But it's interesting to see retaliation for Tinsel Town's left-wing garbage spread across the globe. From the Associated Press, May 28...

Los Angeles - Sharon Stone's "karma" comment is having an instant effect on her movie-star status in China.

The 50-year-old actress suggested last week that the devastating May 12 earthquake in China could have been the result of bad karma over the government's treatment of Tibet. That prompted the founder of one of China's biggest cinema chains to say his company would not show her films in his theaters....

"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else," Stone said Thursday during a Cannes Film Festival red-carpet interview with Hong Kong's Cable Entertainment News. "And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"

Ng See-Yuen, founder of the UME Cineplex chain and the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, called Stone's comments "inappropriate," adding that actors should not bring personal politics to comments about a natural disaster that has left five million Chinese homeless....

UME has branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, China's biggest urban movie markets.

During the brief interview, which has also surfaced on YouTube, Stone also said she cried when she received a letter from the Tibetan Foundation asking her to help quake victims.

"They wanted to go and be helpful, and that made me cry," she said. "It was a big lesson to me that sometimes you have to learn to put your head down and be of service even to people who aren't nice to you."

Stone's words created a swell of anger on the Internet, including at least one Chinese Web site devoted solely to disparaging her comments....

Stone has at least four movies coming up between now and 2010, including Streets of Blood, Five Dollars a Day and The Year of Getting to Know Us.

While enjoying the day with family and friends, as I will be, take time out to commemorate those who have fallen to preserve your freedom.

Arlington by Trace Adkins...

Please, no bashing today. Am calling a truce to focus on the meaning of Memorial Day, as President Bush expressed in his Memorial Day proclamation (which actually my daughter wrote)...

On Memorial Day, we honor the heroes who have laid down their lives in the cause of freedom, resolve that they will forever be remembered by a grateful Nation, and pray that our country may always prove worthy of the sacrifices they have made.

Throughout our Nation's history, our course has been secured by brave Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen. These courageous and selfless warriors have stepped forward to protect the Nation they love, fight for America's highest ideals, and show millions that a future of liberty is possible. Freedoms come at great costs, yet the world has been transformed in unimaginable ways because of the noble service and devotion to duty of these brave individuals. Our country honors the sacrifice made by those who have given their lives to spread the blessings of liberty and lay the foundations of peace, and we mourn their loss.

Today, our service men and women continue to inspire and strengthen our Nation, going above and beyond the call of duty as part of the greatest military the world has ever known. Americans are grateful to all those who have put on our Nation's uniform and to their families, and we will always remember their service and sacrifice for our freedoms.

On this solemn day our country unites to pay tribute to the fallen, who demonstrated the strength of their convictions and paid the cost of freedom. We pray for the members of our Armed Forces and their families, and we ask for God's continued guidance of our country.

In respect for their devotion to America, the Congress, by a joint resolution approved on May 11, 1950, as amended (64 Stat. 158), has requested the President to issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe each Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace and designating a period on that day when the people of the United States might unite in prayer. The Congress, by Public Law 106-579, has also designated the minute beginning at 3:00 p.m. local time on that day as a time for all Americans to observe the National Moment of Remembrance.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 26, 2008, as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to unite in prayer. I also ask all Americans to observe the National Moment of Remembrance beginning at 3:00 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day. I encourage the media to participate in these observances. I also request the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate officials of all units of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half staff until noon on this Memorial Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels throughout the United States, and in all areas under its jurisdiction and control. I also request the people of the United States to display the flag at half staff from their homes for the customary forenoon period.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Maria Chapman, 5-year-old daughter of Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman, was killed Wednesday when accidentally run over in the family's Franklin, TN, driveway by one of her older brothers, compounding the tragedy. Wrote the Chapman's manager...

Just hours before this close knit family was celebrating the engagement of the oldest daughter Emily Chapman, and were just hours away from a graduation party marking Caleb Chapman's completion of high school. Now, they are preparing to bury a child who blew out 5 candles on a birthday cake less than 10 days ago.

There's more to the story of the unique Chapman family:

More than five years ago, Chapman and his wife MaryBeth founded The Shaohannah's Hope Ministry after bringing their first adopted daughter, Shaohannah, home from China. The ministry's goal is to help families reduce the financial barrier of adoption, and has provided grants to over 1700 families wishing to adopt orphans from around the world.

Chapman has won 5 Grammys and 54 Dove Awards and has sold over 10 million albums, garnering 44 #1 singles in the process. My favorite is Dive, one of a few of my personal anthems.

But Chapman's current hit, Cinderella, is all the more poignant when considering the loss of one of his little girls who inspired him to write it. So sad. Chapman's explanation of the song's impetis follows the music video:

Here's a silly home video Chapman shot just 2 months ago featuring Maria:

I extend my sincerest condolescences to the Chapman family. The family requests donations to Shaohannah's Hope in lieu of flowers.

The May 17/24 issue of World magazine featured an interview with Arthur Brooks, author of the book, Gross National Happiness. In this excerpt from the interview, Brooks examined factors that influence happiness and who is happier - conservatives or liberals, and religious or secular people.

Why am I happy?

World: OK - assuming the right definition of happiness and informative stats, what tends to make Americans happy?

Brooks: There are three basic things that make people happy: meaning in their lives, control over their environment, and success in creating value in the world. And the way people get these things is not with money or power or fame - it is with their values. People who are serious about healthy values in their lives, families, and communities are much happier than others. The data say that these values come in eight categories: faith, family, personal liberty, private morality, non-materialism, opportunity, work, and service to others. Many journalists and academics dismiss these as just "cultural issues." But what happy Americans know is that nothing is more important than these things for building true happiness.

Who is happier, conservatives or liberals?...

World: You examine "the politics of happiness" in chapter 1 and come to some conclusions about liberals and conservatives that would surprise our academic colleagues who stereotype conservatives as emotionally rigid, insecure, and angry.

Brooks: I look at strange data results all day, but the evidence on liberals and conservatives surprised even me. People who say they are conservative or very conservative are nearly twice as likely to say they are "very happy," than are people who call themselves liberal or very liberal. Conservatives are much less likely to say they are dissatisfied with themselves, that they are inclined to feel like a failure, or to be pessimistic about their futures. A 2007 survey even found that 58% of Republicans rated their mental health as "excellent," versus just 38% of Democrats.

Who is happier, religious or secular types?

World: The title of chapter 2, which concerns religion, is "Happiness is a gift from above." What do you mean by that?

Brooks: Faith is an incredible predictor - and cause - of happiness. Religious people of all faiths are much, much happier than secularists, on average. In 2004, 43% of those who attended a house of worship at least once a week said they were "very happy" with their lives, versus 23% of those who attended seldom or never. The connection between faith and happiness holds regardless of one's particular religion. One major 2000 survey revealed that observant Christians and Jews, along with members of a great many other religious traditions were all far more likely than secularists to say they were happy.

[Photo of Brooks courtesy of World magazine]

From the Associated Press, May 9:

It's a happy Mother's Day for an Arkansas woman - she's pregnant with her 18th child. Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year's Day, and the latest addition will join 7 sisters and 10 brothers. There are 2 sets of twins. "We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing....

The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest AR in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children - whose names start with the letter J - are home-schooled.

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores - or "jurisdictions" - are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a "jurisdiction swap," where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.

"The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass," she said. "The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms," among other chores.

Duggar said she's 6 weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they'll keep having children as long as God wills it.

"The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated," Jim Bob Duggar said. "Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen."

The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2.

View the Duggars' webpage here. View their Discovery Channel info here.

[HT: proofreader Angela; top photo courtesy of the AP; 2nd photo courtesy of Anvari.org, where other photos are available showing the Duggar home, etc.]

I got a little misty eyed at the end. I think all mothers will. From The Today Show, May 6...

According to an email from Bella's promoters, Bella was the #1 selling dvd in Amazon's love/romance category yesterday and #5 on the entire Amazon site. That's great.

Promoters are encouraging store buyers to get Bella at Walmart because it's the largest dvd retailer in the world.

I've been tracking the movie Bella a year, since before it opened.

The Bella dvd goes on sale today. An email yesterday from its tireless promoters said Bella was the most popular presell dvd in its category yesterday on Amazon.

Bella tells the story of a world famous Latin soccer star who sinks into oblivion after accidentally killing a little girl. His life is set back on course when encountering a pregnant mother in crisis. Bella is a life-affirming, award-winning movie.

The aforementioned email said Bella's star, hunky and very nice Eduardo Verastegui, was to appear on Fox's Cavuto yesterday or today, O'Reilly yesterday, and The Today Show today at 10a EST. I can't find anything on the Fox website so don't think Eduardo appeared on a Fox show yesterday, unless someone saw something. Hoping it's tonight.

Here's the latest trailer on Bella. Love Wild Horses...

Eduardo's life story is inspiring. Watch a video here. View Eduardo as the male lead in Jennifer Lopez's 2001 music video, Ain't It Funny. And here's Eduardo's 2000 music video, Yo no se perder, produced by Gloria and Emilio Estefan.

We last left Yale art student Aliza Shvarts hiding out in her apartment, perhaps filming herself in her bathtub aborting more babies.

Shvarts and Yale were at an impasse. Yale was demanding Shvarts publicly admit her planned senior "performance art" project was a hoax. Yale Daily News detailed the project to a greater extent yesterday...]

... a four-foot-wide cube made from PVC piping that would be shrouded in hundreds of feet of plastic sheeting and hung from the ceiling of the gallery. Between the layers of the plastic sheeting would be coatings of Vaseline mixed with the blood collected over the previous nine months...

The misnomered "blood" was actually the product of Shvarts' multiple self-induced abortions following multiple self-provided artificial inseminations - her own preborn children.

But Yale officials said Shvarts told them she was lying about all that, hence their order to recant or face censorship, which would yield her a failing grade for the class, altho YDN reported Shvarts would still have had enough credits to graduate next month.

But the stalemate is ending. YDN reported Shvarts is submitting an alternate art project.

So all is well. Abortion enthusiasts can relax: The negative publicity should begin to die down.

For now, anyway. My bet is Shvarts' project will end up on display somewhere someday. In that regard, U of AZ student Matt Hathway wrote an excellent op ed for